Friday, 27 March, 2015

First 24 hours of Programming is a Sibelius Marathon Including All Seven Symphonies, the Violin Concerto and Finlandia

Seattle – The Seattle Symphony and Seattle’s Classical KING FM 98.1 announce their collaboration on a new streaming channel, the KING FM Seattle Symphony Channel.

The new streaming channel, which begins on Sunday, March 29, and replaces the current KING FM Symphonic Channel, can be accessed at www.king.org/sso or from links at www.king.org or www.seattlesymphony.org, or on the Classical KING FM HD radio station 98.1 HD3. The channel can also be heard through the free Classical KING FM smartphone app, and through iHeartRadio, TuneIn and iTunes.

Seattle Symphony President & CEO Simon Woods commented, “The relationship between KING FM and the Seattle Symphony goes back decades, and it’s a relationship that we greatly treasure. This latest collaboration is a wonderful way for us to share our musical ideas and stories with Seattle Symphony and classical radio fans around the world, giving what we hope will be enormous listening pleasure.”

Classical KING FM 98.1 Program Director Bryan Lowe added, “Our five Classical KING FM channels reach listeners in more than 170 countries each month, and now our collaboration with the Seattle Symphony means we’ll be able to share even more from this great orchestra with local and global audiences.”

On March 29 starting at 12:01 a.m., the first 24 hours of programming are dedicated to the Seattle Symphony’s recent performances of Sibelius, recorded live in concert. The Seattle Symphony is currently in the final week of Luminous Landscapes: The Sibelius Symphonies, a festival honoring the 150th anniversary of Jean Sibelius’ birth. The three programs, which are being performed over the course of three consecutive weeks at Benaroya Hall, under Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Dausgaard, encompass all seven of Sibelius symphonies, along with the Violin Concerto featuring guest violinist Pekka Kuusisto, and Finlandia. The programs will repeat during the 24-hour period so that international audiences may find it in their time zone.

Following the opening Sibelius marathon, listeners will continue to hear a variety of symphonic repertoire, infused with the Seattle Symphony’s artistic point of view and conversations with Seattle Symphony musicians and guests. Aside from the unique Sibelius 24-hour marathon on March 29, music used on the streaming channel will primarily be from commercially released recordings, curated in collaboration between Classical KING FM and Seattle Symphony staff.

Luminous Landscapes: The Sibelius Symphonies was presented on the Seattle Symphony’s Delta Air Lines Masterworks season. The festival is sponsored by Finlandia Foundation, Finlandia Vodka and Bang & Olufsen.

Founded in 1903, the Seattle Symphony is one of America’s leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard live from September through July by more than 300,000 people. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community-engagement programs reach over 100,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season, including John Luther Adams’ recent Become Ocean, which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and a 2015 Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. The orchestra has made more than 140 recordings and has received 18 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.

About Classical KING FM 98.1

Classical KING FM 98.1 is the Northwest’s leading classical radio station, serving the greater Puget Sound since 1948. As a listener-supported public radio station, Classical KING FM’s mission is to support the broadcasting of classical music, to further the education and involvement of the general public with classical music, and to advance the appreciation and performance of opera, symphonic music, and chamber music using a wide spectrum of technologies.